This week we have a guest Teaching Tip from Alexia Estes, one of the English Forward Master Trainers! Read her post below.
Student retention has always been a point of discussion in adult ESL. How do we keep our students coming when they have so much going on in their lives? I believe that creating a classroom community helps to keep students accountable, and also gives them motivation to continue coming. When they know they will have an opportunity to see friends and socialize, or that they will be missed if they are absent, they are more likely to feel as if there is something at stake, and more likely to continue attending class – even if absences do happen now and again.
One way I create community in my classroom is to create class teams. Each student is a part of a team and has a responsibility during each class session. The teams I create are: 1) attendance, 2) Snack, 3) Clean up. While all students will participate in all activities, the students on each team are the leaders who make sure it happens every day!
The attendance team is in charge of marking off each student as present or absent, as well as calling the students who are absent to check on them. This can happen during break time or immediately after class. These phone calls also let the absent students know that they are missed!
The snack team is in charge of making sure there is someone (or 2 or 3, depending on the size of the class) signed up to bring a snack to share during break time. The break and snack time gives students a chance to socialize and build more community.
The clean up team is in charge of making sure that all trash is off of the floor and that the tables and chairs are back in place before everyone leaves at the end of class.
Students sign up to be on a team during the first week of class. Depending on the duration of the class session, students may want to change teams halfway through to have an opportunity to try something different. During each class, each team is given an opportunity to take care of their responsibility and make sure that the rest of the class is participating, as well. This helps to create community and accountability among the students. It also helps them all to feel as if they have a responsibility to be in class so that they can participate in their team responsibilities.
There are many other teams you can create for your classroom. Decide what is important to you and your students, and get buy in from the students. They begin to take ownership of their class, they build relationships and community, and are more likely to persist until the end of the term!